Sacred Space?

A few days ago, I was searching for something on YouTube.  For those of you that don’t know, I have a channel there with some videos for Mental Sauna music, some videos about my app and some of the short films I composed the music for.  Anyway, I am digging through videos and I stumble across a beautiful picture of a waterfall and the caption told me it was a video about the sound of the water accompanied with gentle music.  Since this is my field, I was curious and clicked on it.

The music, while not quite my style, was enjoyable, though not particularly relaxing to me but the waterfall was stunning and I was curious as to where this was.  Checking the description, I saw it was not listed so I thought that perhaps the answer may be in the comments.  I never got far enough to find out.

I couldn’t even tell you exactly how it happened but it went from a few polite comments supporting the video to a hateful political rant that went on and on with several people bashing each other about who even knows what.  There was name calling, arguing and opinions dramatically stated but, as usual, no one seemed to be listening to what anyone else was saying.  They were too busy shouting to get their point across.

Is there nothing sacred anymore?  Are there no forums safe from people’s hatred and having to show everyone how they know better than everyone else?  The whole point of posting a video such as the one I stumbled across was to be able to escape, reset and recharge.  How can anyone do that with all the noise in the world?

It isn’t a matter if whether we can do better than this or should do better than this.  We HAVE to start doing better than this.  This is something I address in my forthcoming novel The Universal Court.  Hopefully, we can start turning the tide and be able to find more sacred places where we can go to escape all the hatred and anger that is solving nothing at all.

My old blog used to get hit with all kinds of spam so I moved it here to BlogSpot and it has been much better.  However, be it here, my website, YouTube page, Soundcloud, etc., anytime I see something negative (not talking about constructive feedback but anger, hatred, etc.), I immediately delete it and block the user.  I will always do what I can to keep my world as peaceful as possible unless using it as an example, as I have done here.  Hopefully, together, we can all make a difference and drown out all the noise with joy, respect, consideration, peace and love.

What about you?  What is a sacred place that you go to, physical, internet, music, meditation or somewhere else?

Let’s make the world better!

For those that are interested, here is my YouTube page:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ScottHaskinMusic

Cheers,

Scott

A Simple Thing That Has a Positive Impact

A couple years before I moved to Las Vegas, I decided to try an experiment on one of my visits.  The deal was that I was going to make an attempt to actually interact with everyone I came into contact with.  If I went to a sundry shop to get a bottle of water or with the desk clerk when I checked into my hotel, I would attempt to have a genuine connection and see what happened.

In general, we say certain things when we are in a position to interact with strangers, especially in the retail world.  “Hi, how are you?”  Oh good, yeah, me too.  Have a good one.”  Sound familiar?  Probably the same conversation you have with most people you are not friends with.  A brief, considerate, nearly scripted conversation.  But what if it was taken to the next level?

Going from the Phoenix airport to my Vegas destination, my efforts were not proving fruitful.  There was little time to take advantage of and people in some of those positions seemed to be strongly focused on their work, not leaving much opportunity for interaction.  I didn’t give up, though.  I knew there was more room for opportunity.

Once I arrived at my hotel, I found my first opportunity at the check-in desk.  The young lady that waited on me seemed genuinely surprised when I said, “You are YOU doing today?”  It wasn’t just the words but the honesty in them.  I knew I was just another face to her that was either making her do work or helping her pass the time, depending how she looked at it.  Either way, it was more the way I asked than the words I used.  There were probably other factors such as my demeanor, expression and whatever else.  In the end, she seemed to relax her shoulders and go about her work and got me checked in much more quickly than I was used to.  I told her I hoped she had a wonderful rest of her day and moved on.

Later that day, I wanted a snack so I went to one of the hotel stores and made a purchase.  Same thing with the cashier.  I had heard her greet a couple customers in line before me.  Plain, cursory conversation as she probably sees a few hundred people a day that could care less she is there as long as someone rings them up.  Same line, “How are YOU today?”  This time met with a huge grin as she stood more upright and relaxed her muscles.  We shared a quick but warm exchange and, as I walked away, “I hope you have a great rest of your day.”  She replied “You too!”  The best part was, as a made sure to fumble a bit getting my receipt into my wallet, I heard how warmly she greeted the next customer.  I made an impact!  It may not last long or it may but, at the very least, for a moment, I made a positive impact.

The rest of the trip continued that way but the journey home was the best of all.  It was a fairly slow day at the airport and I was getting my boarding pass.  The lady there warmed up when I offered my caring phrase and we started talking which brought a heart-warming story out of her.  She told me about the time one of her co-workers had been left at the counter, alone, and was overwhelmed with customers but management wouldn’t send anyone to help her.  Her cash drawer ended up being over $100 short and she was getting hysterical.  She was sure she was going to lose her job and the customers overheard her telling her boss.  They took up a collection and paid the missing money for her.  People joining together to help a complete stranger just because they could see what she was going through and wanted to help her feel better.  Amazing!

So try it for yourself.  Genuinely take an interest.  It doesn’t have to turn into a life-long friendship and yes, sometimes, you will get people that are happy to keep talking beyond what you wanted.  But take an interest.  Show someone you are glad they came into your world.  Maybe they will treat the next person they see a little better and that person will also.

Every little bit of joy matters.  Let me know how it goes!

Cheers,

Scott

#HappyPeopleMakeASafeWorld

There it is but what does it mean?  What does it mean to you?

Just a few days ago, my dear friend Magreeshi (http://www.magareeshi.com/) had an idea of sharing pictures drawn all over with washable sidewalk chalk.  She used the phrase #WetChalkMovement.  I thought it was brilliant and so did a lot of others who started painting their driveways and any available spaces with happy and beautiful pictures.  All kinds of photos and stories were sent in to show her that what she did had a positive impact on people.

I had been pondering for a while what I might be able to do to help bring peace to the world more than I have through my Mental Sauna and other music.  When Magreeshi sent this post out, I came up with #HappyPeopleDoNotHurtEachOther.  While that said what I wanted to say, it didn’t work the way I wanted it to. No matter how you say it, the focus is on hurting people.  I sent it out to a couple trusted people and got responses which eventually brought me to the title of this Blog.

Why didn’t the original version work when it said the same thing?  I strongly believe that specific language paints a picture so, to get the point across, you have to paint the picture in words that you want people to see.  Had I sent the first one, people would think about happy people committing acts of violence.  That wasn’t what I wanted at all.  I often think of Mother Theresa’s statement about refusing to support an anti-war rally but would always support a peace rally.  They both have the same goal but the focus of the former is still on war.  If you say anti-war, what do you picture?  Battle?  Body parts?  Tanks?  That’s exactly why it doesn’t work.  What do you picture when you think peace rally?

When you think about it, how many happy people go around hurting other people?  Not too many, right?  What do happy people do?  They want to stay in that feeling and make others feel good, too.  What do unhappy people do?  Speak louder and louder until someone else is as miserable as they are.  It has gotten even worse not that social media has given everyone a voice.  They have not always chosen to use it wisely.  Many of the posts I used to see are anger fueled, opinionated and some downright hateful.  What does this help?  Nothing.  These people are just speaking out and not doing anything to bring about any change, which is what #HappyPeopleMakeASafeWorld is all about.

When you have dried, caked on dirt in a glass, you can’t just pour it out and be done.  You have to run water through it to get the glass clean again, right?  Your mind is no different.  You have to filter out the bad things in your mind by flushing them out with good things.  I see #HappyPeopleMakeASafeWorld as the clear, clean liquid that can wash that dirt away.

I can’t do it alone. Please help me spread the word about this.  Let’s clean the dirt off the glass so we can see the beauty of the world through it.  Let go of the pointless hatred that isn’t doing anything but separating us all.  Cut out the news that is depressing and doesn’t tell you anything you need to know.  Take everything you can that makes you feel bad when you see it and get it out of your face.  Surround yourself with things that make you smile.  Some things you can do easily, others will take time.  One thing I did was change my home page to Google so I don’t see all the horrible things in the world that are going on first thing in the morning when I get on the internet to check my email since there is no news feed.  Some things are that simple.

Let’s all get together and make the world happy and safe.  Share it everywhere you can.  If you have ideas on how to expand on this, I would love to hear them.  Please leave a comment below.

Thank you and make today beautiful - for you and everyone else!

Scott